University of San Diego professor Lauren Benz is exploring a way to mop up excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — and she’s extending a hand to other female scientists seeking a niche in academia.

Benz, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has received a $450,000 Faculty Early Career Development grant from the National Science Foundation to study “nanoporous hybrid frameworks.”

Those are compounds with microscopic holes — “nano sponges” — that can sop up and compress 50 times their volume in carbon.

“Carbon dioxide gas is known to be a major contributor to global warming, so efforts which enable or improve the capture and storage of carbon dioxide are of broad importance,” Benz said.

Nanoporous hybrid frameworks could one day be used to make more efficient catalytic converters for vehicles or highly absorptive filters for power plants, she said.

“They’re the best porous material for carbon dioxide absorption right now,” Benz said.

And the compounds may be able to convert captured carbon into new fuel.

Scientists are still studying the compounds’ safety, cost-effectiveness, long-term reliability and other issues, Benz said. Her research will examine those aspects as well.

The grant program, which is designed to help new professors, promotes both teaching and research. It will allow Benz to hire 10 undergraduate researchers during the next five years to provide assistance with her project.

And it will help Benz coordinate a network of San Diego women in science, technology, engineering and math — STEM fields — who aim to work in academia.

Although men and women who pursue science degrees graduate at relatively the same rate, Benz said women make up only about a quarter to a third of science faculty.

“There’s kind of this attrition of female faculty through the pipeline,” she said. “I’m interested in figuring out why. Part of it is the timeline of women entering academia coincides with women having children. I think there’s just too much to do. I think there could be more support.”